#blacktexans

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To quote @carririchardson_ : “Dallas Raised so Respect the Game …” #champion #tokyobound #olympictrials #dallasnative #blacktexans #intheheartoftexas #texans #blackexcellence #blackgirlmagic https://www.instagram.com/p/CQh8LTQHKnb/?utm_medium=tumblr

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And finally, before I turn in (I started turning in a while ago before my thoughts turned toward my Texan roots, as always), I have to end the first #juneteenth national “holiday” recognizing my beloved (beyond imagination - we were very close) grandmother, Mamie Bell Abernathy (nee Tyson/Mitchell), her brother Elaska Tyson, and their parents Virginia “Gun” Samuella Baugus and Robert S Tyson (though my grandmother often used Mitchell as her maiden name, he was her stepfather). Cass County, Texas. My great-grandmother “Gun” was the daughter of Lydia Wiley and white slaveholder Bryant “Major” Baugus. My great-grandmother evidently helped take care of her father in his old age, and he left her some property when he died, though the oral history (which is likely now illegal in Texas, though my mother had firsthand knowledge bc her grandmother lived with them when she was growing up) is that her white siblings coerced her to sign over her rights when they visited my great-grandmother while my grandparents were at work. This land is in the Rodessa oil basin on the Texas/Louisiana border. Luckily great-uncle Elaska retained land in Bivins, and my second cousins, the Tysons, have maintained a homestead area for the whole Tyson/Durden/Rambo, etc clan. Looking forward to attending the virtual reunion on July 3. #juneteenthdescendant #blacktexans #intheheartoftexas #americanhistory #juneteenth https://www.instagram.com/p/CQVPs6mHSp1/?utm_medium=tumblr

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And on this first National #juneteenth “holiday” I would be remiss without also honoring my great-grandmother Laura Richardson, Maggie’s beloved sister that I never had a chance to meet, born 16 years after slavery ended in Texas. #juneteenthdescendant #blacktexans #intheheartoftexas https://www.instagram.com/p/CQVNILhnF4r/?utm_medium=tumblr

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I shared some Texas brisket and red “soda water” with a few close friends on this first National Juneteenth commemoration. But #juneteenth is not about slogans or days off of work to shop at holiday-themed sales. It’s about people. Like my great-great aunt, Maggie Richardson-Broomfield of Waxahachie, Texas. A music major and business woman, she was actually a big part of my life. She died at age 95 when I was in law school, and my dad, her great-nephew, took care of her and religiously drove to Waxahachie from Dallas at least once a week to take her on errands or run errands for her and spend time with her. She helped send him to college and always looked after him and his brother as a stand-in grandmother for her sister Laura, who died many years prior. This is her as a college student @fiskuniversity taken around 1907, where she majored in music - she was a concert-worthy pianist. How’s that for someone born in a small Texas town in 1890, 25 years after the end of slavery in Texas on Juneteenth. #americanhistory #juneteenth #juneteenthdescendant #honoringtheancestors #blacktexans #intheheartoftexas https://www.instagram.com/p/CQVMfjrnC1-/?utm_medium=tumblr

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I have @drpepper and @drinkbigred - y’all know where I’m from … #texan #blacktexans #intheheartoftexas #juneteenth https://www.instagram.com/p/CQRwny0HTng/?utm_medium=tumblr

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I still have a nasty cold (cold, not Covid - thank you vaccines!), but I’m living the dream today. I made it from the @wync call-in line and got to speak to one of my favorite people I don’t actually know, Brian Lehrer @brianlehrershow along with his esteemed guest writer/scholar @clintsmithiii about #juneteenth - I was so excited that it was likely gibberish, but I’m joyful nonetheless. #juneteenthdescendant #brianlehrergroupie #intheheartoftexas #blacktexans https://www.instagram.com/p/CQRB2KQn0C8/?utm_medium=tumblr

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#Juneteenth #BlackTexans #dallas #texas #oakcliff #oakcliffthenovel